Kids Fear Global Warming More Than Terrorism, Car Crashes, and Cancer, According to National Earth Day Survey

Kids Fear Global Warming More Than Terrorism, Car Crashes, and Cancer, According to National Earth Day Survey

National Survey of Middle School Students Shows Kids Believe More Needs to be Done to Save the Planet

NEW YORK, April 20 /PRNewswire/ -- While recent polls show that American adults are most concerned about the war in Iraq, terrorism, and healthcare, a survey of more than 1,000 middle school students across the country found that kids fear global warming more than any of these issues. The survey was conducted by BrainPOP, a New York based educational provider.

Some of the most intriguing findings from the BrainPOP global warming survey include:

-- Nearly 60 percent of children said they feared global warming and
environmental disasters-such as hurricanes, tornados and flooding-more
than terrorism, car crashes, and even cancer (22.3 percent feared
terrorism most; 14.6 percent cancer; 5.9 percent car crashes).

-- Nearly one-third of children reported thinking about global warming a
lot and worrying about how the effects of global warming will change
the planet and directly impact their lives. Another 41.2 percent think
about it sometimes and say that they are somewhat worried.

-- Roughly 60 percent of children surveyed believe that more needs to be
done in their community to help the planet and stop global warming.

-- When asked what effect of global warming worries them the most, the
majority of kids surveyed are most afraid of the toll it will take on
the lives of people.

"We were not surprised in our survey to discover that children are really worried about global warming. We have received thousands of emails from children expressing their fears and asking what they could do to help save the planet," said BrainPOP CEO and founder Avraham Kadar, M.D. "Given the media attention from things like Hurricane Katrina and the tsunamis in Asia, it's no wonder that children are curious and concerned about the impact of global warming. Although we have addressed the issue in the past with movies on things like global warming and pollution, this year we've added a special movie about the human impact on our environment to help kids understand what they can do to help out."

BrainPOP, a Web-based educational company with more than 600 animated shorts on topics ranging from allergies to word problems, has produced numerous movies about the environment. In honor of Earth Day, BrainPOP is making 14 of its environment-related shorts, including "Global Warming" and the new "Humans and the Environment," available for free for the months of April and May. To see the special Earth Day section, users can go to http://www.brainpop.com/earthday. In particular, BrainPOP's "Global Warming" movie explains the nuts and bolts of this issue, while the "Humans and the Environment" movie discusses some of the many things children can do to contribute in a positive way to the health of the planet, including conserving electricity, participating in neighborhood cleanups, and making their voices heard.

BrainPOP's survey was conducted by Survey Monkey.com, from April 2nd - April 18th, with a total of 1,023 middle school participants. BrainPOP solicited participation through a newsletter sent to a network of about 20,000 teachers nationwide, in which teachers were invited to have their students take part in this online survey.

About BrainPOP

http://www.brainpop.com/

BrainPOP is the leading producer of animated educational movies for grades 3-12. With more than 1 million new viewers each month, BrainPOP offers curriculum-based content in the areas of Science, Math, English, Social Studies, Health, Arts & Music, and Technology. Guided by their hosts, Tim and Moby, millions of students regularly watch BrainPOP movies and exchange messages with a dynamic cast of characters who lead them through related activities on the BrainPOP web site, including homework help, interactive quizzes, comic strips, and experiments. Founded in 1999 by Avraham Kadar, M.D., BrainPOP has won multiple education and media awards and has developed partnerships with a number of international brands, including McGraw-Hill, National Geographic, Yahoo!, and AOL. In 2006, the company launched BrainPOP Junior (www.brainpopjr.com), which is targeted to children in grades K-3. Like BrainPOP, BrainPOP Junior teaches core curriculum topics in a fun and easily digestible manner, while correlating with national standards and testing mandates. BrainPOP is also available in Spanish at es.brainpop.com. BrainPOP's first print title, The Science Almanac for Kids, was published in 2004.

First Call Analyst:
FCMN Contact:

Source: BrainPOP

CONTACT: Deborah Sittig, Media Director of BrainPOP,
+1-908-377-8700, deborah@brainpop.com; or Wendy Sachs or Kylene Sullivan of
Dan Klores Communications, +1-212-685-4300

Web site:

http://www.brainpop.com/earthday
http://www.brainpopjr.com/
http://www.brainpop.com/

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